The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blair has shoulder surgery
Pitcher will miss season after repair of capsule tear.
Braves right-hander Aaron Blair had surgery on his pitching shoulder Tuesday, a procedure performed by Dr. James Andrews and termed successful by the team.
He had a capsule tear and Andrews did a clean-up of the subscapularis, which is part of the rotator cuff. Blair will miss the season.
Blair, a former first-round draft pick, began the season on the Triple-A Gwinnett roster and left his opening start Wednesday in the third inning after giving up a hit, three runs and five walks.
The 25-year-old former top prospect came out of the game after throwing a wild pitch and going to cover home, and Braves manager Brian Snitker said the injury was not the result of any one thing but more from wear and tear.
After being examined by a Braves doctor, Blair was sent to see Andrews on Monday at the surgeon’s clinic outside Pensacola, Florida.
Blair, who’ll be 26 on May 26, was coming off a careerworst season in which he made one major-league start for the Braves. He spent the rest of the year in Triple-A, going 7-9 with a 5.09 ERA, 107 strikeouts and 56 walks in 127-1/3 innings before leaving his final start with a torn lat muscle near his pitching shoulder.
He reported to spring training this year about 40 pounds lighter than the previous spring after spending the winter in Atlanta working out at SunTrust Park with Braves physical therapists and a few teammates. He improved his diet, ramped up his conditioning and said he felt much better and stronger.
He was excited about trying to get his career back on track and Snitker was excited for him. Now, Blair faces a lengthy and difficult surgery rehab.
No NL Least in 2018: The National League East might not be so bad after all.
Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman coined it the “toughest” five-team grouping in baseball just before opening day. That triggered laughter and witty responses, and deservingly so after the division had one team that exceeded 77 wins a year ago.
The Nationals coasted to a first-place finish with 97 wins,
a whopping 20 games better than second-place Miami, which went on to dismantle its team in the winter. The past several seasons have popularly labeled the East baseball’s worst division.
But Freeman may have the last laugh. The season is ripe, just 15 games through, but the East is shaping up to be substantially tougher than recent years — and unquestionably more competitive.
The Mets are 12-3, including a perfect 6-0 away from Citi Field. The Phillies have regrouped after a messy opening series against the Braves and now sit at 9-6, winners of three straight series prior to the ongoing games in Atlanta. Washington entered the year again the heavy favorite, having claimed three of the past four division crowns. They’re a modest 8-9 in the early going, but there’s little reason to panic about the division’s most talented team.
Aside from the emptied-out Marlins, the division doesn’t appear to have an easy out. Each team, at worst, will be a handful.
“The National League East, I think, is the toughest division in baseball, starting pitching-wise and everything around it,” Freeman reiterated Tuesday. “So we’re going to have a tough battle all year with all the teams.”
The Braves have split 3-3 with the Nationals. They’ve played four true dog fights against the Phillies, coming out on top three times. The games involved a five-run rally, extra innings, a 15-2 drubbing that made tempers flare on both sides, and a 2-1 grind-it-out finish Monday.
That’s a shift from 2017, when the Braves defeated the Phillies six times in 19 attempts. Like the Braves, the Phillies are transitioning from rebuild to contention, supplementing young stars with what they hope is the right mix of veterans.
“They’re playing good baseball and we’re playing good baseball,” Freeman said when asked about a potential revival of the Braves-Phillies rivalry.
“If we continue to do that, it’s going to be good playing them so many times early on. It’s a big test for both teams. They got the best of us last year so hopefully we can turn the tide around this year.”
The Braves face the Mets for the first time Thursday in a four-game set. They won’t see the Marlins until May 10, and despite Miami’s hapless status, holding serve against the East’s worst team could be vital to how the race finishes.